Name: Bisi Bele Bath
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: ¼ cup Short Grain Rice, Sona Masoori, washed and soaked; ¼ cup Split Pigeon Peas, split pigeon peas, washed and soaked; ¾ cup Mixed Vegetables, carrots, beans, peas, potatoes, chopped; ½ Tamarind, soaked in hot water to extract pulp; 1½ tbsp Bisi Bele Bath Powder, store-bought or authentic homemade blend; ½ tbsp Jaggery, crushed; ¼ tsp Ground Turmeric; ¾ tsp Salt, to taste; 2¼ cup Water, total, for cooking; 1½ tbsp Ghee, for tempering; ½ tsp Mustard Seeds; 5 Cashews, halved; 1 Dried Red Chili Peppers, broken; 8 Curry Leaves; ⅛ tsp Asafoetida

1 hr 20 mintotal

1 hr hands-on20 min hands-off

Prep 20 min · Cook 40 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: Medium

Add to your week

Method

Put the soaked rice, lentils, chopped mixed vegetables, turmeric powder, a splash of neutral oil and the measured water into a pressure cooker.
Cook under pressure over medium heat for 4-5 whistles. Everything should break down completely into a very soft, thick mush. Let the pressure release naturally.
Vigorously extract a highly concentrated, viscous tamarind liquid from the steeped pulp.
In a commanding secondary pot or kadhai, amalgamate the tamarind extract, crushed jaggery, authentic Bisi Bele Bath powder, salt, and remaining water. Maintain a rolling boil for 5-7 minutes to eradicate the raw astringency of the tamarind.
5–7 min
Open the pressure cooker and mash the softened rice, lentils and vegetables together with a heavy ladle.
Add the mashed mixture to the boiling spiced tamarind broth. Fold it through thoroughly. It should be loose and flowing, like a thick porridge. Simmer gently for 3-4 minutes.
3–4 min
Make the tempering: heat the ghee in a small tempering pan until it smokes. Add the mustard seeds and let them pop.
Add the split cashews and toast them until lightly golden. Follow quickly with the broken dried red chillies, fresh curry leaves and asafoetida. Flash-sauté until fragrant.
Pour this hot, aromatic tempering straight over the simmering bisi bele bath. Fold it through.
Turn off the heat and serve it straight away, while it is still piping hot.

How to tell it's done

Bisi bele bath should be thick but still flowing, like a heavy dal-rice porridge, balanced between tamarind, jaggery and spice, with ghee-roasted cashews for crunch on top.

Getting it right

Tip

A good bisi bele bath depends on proper bisi bele bath powder, with marathi moggu and kapok buds in it. Sambar or khichdi powder will taste like a different dish.

What to serve it with

Serve it hot, straight from the pot, topped with crisp khara boondi or thick-cut potato chips, and an ice-cold cucumber raita to settle the spice.

Hyderabadi Mutton Keema Biryani

Mutton keema biryani layers spiced mince under rice, so the fat runs through every grain.

1 hr 30 minnon vegetarian

Indo-Chinese Chilli Garlic Fried Rice

Chilli garlic fried rice is the Indo-Chinese street version, hot with green chilli and heavy with garlic.

20 minvegetarian

Indo-Chinese Paneer Fried Rice

Paneer fried rice tosses cubes of paneer through Indo-Chinese fried rice.

22 minvegetarian

Jain Corn Capsicum Pulao

Corn capsicum pulao cooks rice with sweet corn and peppers, made without onion or garlic.

45 minvegetarian

Jain Fada Ni Khichdi

Fada ni khichdi uses broken wheat instead of rice, cooked soft with mung dal and no onion or garlic.

1 hr 10 minvegetarian

Jain Kaju Draksh Pulao

Kaju draksh pulao cooks rice with cashews and raisins, sweet and mild and made without onion or garlic.

50 minvegetarian

Ingredients